“A local businessman who wants to convert much of a historic office tower in Chicago’s Loop business district into affordable apartments has snapped up a vacant structure nearby out of financial distress.
“A venture of Marc Calabria earlier this month paid $4.2 million for the eight-story building at 401 S. State St., according to Cook County property records and CoStar data.
“Designed by architect William Le Baron Jenney and completed in 1891, the structure has been a national landmark since 1976 and a Chicago landmark since 1997, according to Cushman & Wakefield, which marketed the property for sale via auction.
The building’s colorful history includes originating as a Siegel, Cooper & Co. department store before later serving for several decades as a Sears, Roebuck & Co. department store.
“Most recently, the building was fully leased to Robert Morris University. But the property has been in financial distress in recent years, after Robert Morris moved out of the property in 2020 and merged with Roosevelt University.
The sale price was a fraction of the $68.1 million that the building last sold for in 2016, according to CoStar data.
Calabria and Chicago-based developer Primera Group are working on a plan to convert much of the 41-story Clark Adams Building at 105 W. Adams St. into 400 apartments. The proposed redevelopment of the art deco structure is part of a broader, city-backed program in which developers can land public financial backing for projects on and around State Street in which at least 30% of the units are set aside with affordable, below-market rents. Primera and Calabria already have a commitment from the city to provide nearly $68 million toward the conversion. (Ori, CoStar, 10/30/25)
“Renowned as one of the nation’s most important early examples of skeletal-frame commercial architecture, this building is discussed in every major history of American architecture. A National Historic Landmark, it was designed by William Le Baron Jenney, the so-called ‘father of the skyscraper.’ This building was erected by Levi Leiter; later, it was leased by Sears, Roebuck & Co. for its flagship department store. It is the city’s oldest surviving department store, a type of building that contributed to State Street’s development as a retailing thoroughfare. The so-called ‘first Leiter’ building, built in 1879 at Wells and Monroe, was demolished in 1972. (Landmarks Division, City of Chicago)
Preservation Chicago is optimistic that Leiter II will be restored and reactivated after a long vacancy and auction. The Second Leiter/Leiter II Building is a very important building and has been widely published in numerous books around the world, and the oldest of the buildings of the Chicago School of Architecture on State Street. It’s also the oldest remaining former department store building on State Street. Also, Levi Leiter was a business partner with Marshall Field and even Potter Palmer of the Palmer House Hotel fame, as well as the Marshall Field department store, in those early days of Chicago. Much of Chicago’s retail and architectural history is tied to this seminal building.
The Second Leiter/Leiter II Building is an exceptional Chicago Landmark, designed by the “Father of the Skyscraper,” William Le Baron Jenney, and one of our 11 candidates for a UNESCO World Heritage Sites, as part of the “Early Chicago Skyscrapers.” The road to being a UNESCO site is long and can take more than a decade, but just wanted to share that despite being submitted in 2017, by many of us, including Preservation Chicago and the City of Chicago, one day this will be part of this legendary group of structures
- This historic office building in Chicago sold for just over $4 million. Is a residential conversion up next? Local businessman Marc Calabria buys vacant 1891 downtown landmark, Ryan Ori, CoStar, 10/30/25
- Old Robert Morris University building pitched as housing, student athletics center; An architecture firm and an engineering company created the proposals on their own, not for a prospective client. Their work represents the type of thinking needed to generate some excitement around the vacant landmark, Lee Bey, Chicago Sun-Times, 8/15/25
- 401 South State Auction Listing from RImarketplace on Aug. 13, 2025
- Leiter II Building, 1891, William Le Baron Jenney, 401 S. State St. Designated a Chicago Landmark on January 14, 1997